Spotify Adds Lossless Listening , What It Means (Deep Dive)
After years of rumours and delays, Spotify has started rolling out a lossless (FLAC) listening option to Premium subscribers. This post collects the facts, the tech details, the rollout plan, device support, the controversy around artists leaving the platform, and practical tips so you , the listener , can decide whether to switch it on.
Spotify first teased a high-fidelity tier (“Spotify HiFi”) in 2021, then repeatedly delayed it amid licensing, technical and strategy questions. Competitors (Apple Music, Amazon Music, TIDAL, Qobuz) offered lossless/hi-res earlier, so users and audiophiles long asked Spotify to catch up. The official lossless rollout in September 2025 ends an eight-year wait.
What that means in practice: you’ll likely hear clearer detail on high-quality wired headphones or a good DAC/amplifier; on phone speakers or most Bluetooth headphones the difference is often tiny or inaudible.
Spotify says Lossless is rolling out to Premium subscribers in over 50 markets through October 2025, with initial availability in markets including the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Sweden and others. Users will get an in-app notification when it’s available for them.
Important: Spotify recommends using Wi-Fi and wired (or non-Bluetooth Spotify Connect) playback for best results because Bluetooth compression limits the bandwidth and removes benefits of lossless audio.
Lossless streams are much larger than typical high-quality lossy streams. Published estimates vary (track complexity, bitrate and sample rate affect size), but expect anywhere from ~500 MB to multiple GB per hour depending on exact encoding and sample rate , AndroidCentral and other outlets report figures around ~1 GB/hour for 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC in real-world usage; some calculators put CD/FLAC sizes lower (~650 MB/hr) while hi-res formats can be several GB/hr. Bottom line: use Wi-Fi or downloads if you’re on a data cap.
Apple Music / Amazon Music / TIDAL / Qobuz: Apple and Amazon have offered lossless for years (Apple: lossless + hi-res, Amazon HD tiers earlier). TIDAL has been oriented toward audiophiles with higher-resolution and MQA options (historly). Spotify’s entry makes it feature-parity on basic lossless availability, but Spotify’s initial cap (24-bit/44.1 kHz) is not the highest sample-rate tier available elsewhere.
Price: Unlike earlier rumours about a paid Hi-Fi add-on, Spotify is including Lossless for Premium subscribers at no extra cost at launch , a big difference from earlier speculation. That said, Spotify’s strategic decisions could evolve.
The rollout comes amid a wave of artist departures and protests over unrelated company controversies , most notably artists pulling music from Spotify in 2025 in protest of CEO Daniel Ek’s investment ties to a defense-tech company (Prima Materia / Helsing). Bands such as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have publicly removed catalogues or announced withdrawals. That context matters: some top releases may be missing from Spotify’s Lossless catalog while disputes continue.
If you enable it, consider switching to Wi-Fi downloads for albums you want offline, and check the Lossless indicator in Now Playing to confirm you’re listening in the higher format.
Spotify’s lossless rollout is a big, overdue feature and , because it’s included in Premium , it’s likely to benefit many users quickly. But the real value depends on your gear and listening habits, and ongoing industry friction means the catalog might still be incomplete for some artists. If you have decent wired headphones or a hi-fi setup, try it , but watch your data and prefer Wi-Fi downloads for regular listening.